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Impacts of earthquake hazards
Effects of earthquake Essay
Impacts of earthquake hazards
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Area of the Long Point Fault
The Long Point Fault is located in Harris County, which covers 83,450 square miles located with in Houston, Teaxas City Limits. Research specifies that there are three sections of the Long Point fault that appear to be active; some sections of the Long Point fault have averaged more than 2 cm per year of vertical offset over the last 20 years. Evidence of the faults concludes it is a natural fault. The reason for activity is not caused by man, even though man’s activities are not helping the issues, but clearly humans are not the initial cause, biological activity can be in fact an adiitional cause for its movement. A brief description of the type of fault and its relationship with the strata and the faults beneath the Houston area, are at depths of 1,000 to 4,000 m. They have been well-defined through the study of well logs and seismic lines. Studies have resuted in assumuptions that some of these subsurface faults penetrate younger sediments at shallower depths, and contain faults that have of set the present land surface to produce recognizable scarps. (Gabrysh)
The Geological history of the Houston area includes surface water present in several types of lakes, rivers, and a wide-ranging system of bayous as well as, manmade canals that all share the rainwater runoff management system. In of Harris County 25%-30% of the land is within a 100 year flood plain. Elevation range of Harris 0'-310', so presently land surface and uppermost sediments in the Houston area are geologically very young strata and research isolates that its ages are measured in tens of thousands, not millions, of years. Distinctly this knowledge concludes it is faulted by a natural process, before significant fluid extraction ha...
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...ler C. W. "Lineations and fauts in the Texas Coastal Zone." Report of Investgations. 1976. 85, 32 pp.
Bonnett, Gabrysch R.K. and C.W. "Land Surface Subsidence at Seabrook, TX ." US Geological Survey. Seabrook TX: Water Resources INV, 1975.
Castle, R. O. and T.L. Youd. "The Houston Fault Problem." Eng. Gelolgists Bull. v. 9, no. 1 (1972): 57-68.
Engelkemeir, R.E., and Khan, S.D.,. "Near surface geophysical studies of Houston faults." 2007.
Gabrysch, R. K. and C.W. Bonnett. "Land Surface subsidence at Seabrook, Texas US." Geological Survey 1977: 21-74. 48 pp.
Gabrysh, R. K. "Land surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region." IASH Publ. (1969): pp. 43-44.
Kreitler, C.W. "Fault Control of Subsidence." Texas Ground Water (1977 b): 203-214.
Van Siclen, D. "The Houston Fault problem." Institute of Professional Geologists. Ed. 3rd Annual Meeting. Texas, 1967. p.9-31.
Marshak, S. (2009) Essentials of Geology, 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, ch. 11, p. 298-320.
3. 120 MY : Continued erosion of the land as it is slowly uplifted and
Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...
The coastal belt of the Franciscan Complex is composed of the youngest and least deformed units and makes up the western quarter of all Franciscan rocks. The rocks of the coastal belt are composed of arkosic sandstones, andesitic graywackes, and quartzofeldspathic graywackes interbedded with radiolarian chert (turbidite deposits) (Blake and Jones, 1981). These sedimentary rocks suggest a depositional environment of deep-sea fan systems with both oceanic and continental provenance. Parts of the belt show evidence of later metamorphism, principally due to subduction. Low-grade blueschist mineral facies are indicated by the presence of minerals such as laumonite and prehnite-pumpellyite (Blake and Jones, 1981). All rock units show evidence of thrust (imbricate) faulting due to the compressional forces of subduction. Ages of the coastal belt run from as little as 40 Ma (Eocene) to as old as 100 Ma (middle Cretaceous).
There are 10 different ecosystems which are Pineywoods, Gulf Prairies and Marshes, Post Oak Savanna, Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers and Prairies, South Texas Plains, Edwards Plateau, Rolling Plains, High Plains, and Trans-Pecos. The area extends into Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. “The terrain is rolling with lower, wetter bottomlands that grow hardwood trees such as elm, mesquite and ash. This region is home to a variety of plants and animals that like woodlands and shorelines.” (Texas Parks and wildlife, n.d.)
In the binational area of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez flooding has become a way of life due to the scarcity of rain and desert climate. Fortunately, meteorologist, geologist and city planners are continuously working to improve city prior to a storm in order to mitigate any financial hardships during and after a flood. The city has to take in account past events in order to improve infrastructure. They also rely on meteorologist to study how the weather is reacting so they can anticipate the next system and how it will hit this region. The primary expert that contributes to this vital research are the Geologist, who have brought to light the cause and effects during drastic climate events. In this report, it will document infrastructure affects, stormwater management, Climate Whiplash and thoughts from the geologist on the desert-flood relationship.
Coastal erosion is a growing problem along the Gulf Coast. Louisiana is one of the coastal states most affected by coastal erosion. Ninety percent of wetland loss in the nation occurs in Louisiana, losing 25-35 square miles per year. At that rate, Louisiana will lose 640,000 more acres by 2050. Many factors contribute to this land loss, such as rising sea levels, subsidence, hurricane storm surge, cold fronts, and human interference. Cold fronts and hurricanes can both have detrimental consequences on the coast of Louisiana (Zhang 2004) (Restore or Retreat 2012). This research shows whether cold fronts or hurricanes have a larger effect on coastal erosion. The researcher will describe how historical and current satellite imagery help in determining the changes in the Louisiana coast. Based on previous research, the researcher believes that hurricanes have more of an effect on coastal erosion than cold fronts due to the high winds and storm surge.
Heller, Arnie. "The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake." Science & Technology (2006): 4-12. Web. 8 May 2014.
United States Geologic Survey. USGS: Your Source for Science You Can Use. Ed. Marcia McNutt. The United States Department of the Interior, 2000. Web. 20 June 2010. .
The Salton Sea was formed, “in the spring of 1905, following extreme rains, the Colorado River flooded and blew out a weakly constructed irrigation canal” (Iovenko).
Smith, Julia C. "East Texas Oilfield." Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association, 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 01 Apr. 2011.
Before examining the Northridge event, understanding the naturally occurring hazard that is an earthquake will help to better understand exactly what happened and why it was such an important geological event. With four distinct layers, two layers, the crust and upper portion of the mantle, compose the skin that is the surface layer of the Earth. The crust is not a single, continuous piece. It is actually several different pieces, or plates, that come together to form the puzzle that comprises the surface of the Earth. These plates are in constant motion rubbing against one another. These areas, known as fault lines, where the plates rub up against one another have spots where one plate ”gets stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and is how most of the earthquakes around the world occur” (Wald, 2012). The energy stored from the friction of the two plate...
6. In 2001 it was assumed that soil contamination at the site would be prevented from leaching into the Floridan Aquifer due to the assumed impenetrable nature of thick clay formations (Miocene clays) located between the soil contamination sources and the deeper Floridan Aquifer. Has this turned out to be true? No, this has not turned out to be true because significant levels of dissolved contaminants moved to the deeper zones of the intermediate Hawthorn Group formation and the Floridan Aquifer.
Fig. 1 shows the map of a part of Asia in which the stars indicate the location of earthquakes and solid circle indicates the location of observing station Agra (27.2o N, 78o E). The details of these earthquakes are mentioned in table 1 which shows the days of occurrence, magnitudes, depths (km), locations (Latitude and Longitude in degrees), radius of influence zone (km) and distances from the Agra station (km). The radius of influence zone is calculated by using the expression R = 100.43M, where M is the magnitude of the earthquake [21]. Although these earthquakes have occurred far away from the observing station Agra, atleast two of them are well covered (> 1000 km) by the radius of the influence zone. The details of the earthquake data have been taken from United States Geological Survey (USGS) website www.earthquake.usgs.gov.in. We have also seen the variations of geomagnetic parameters such as Dst index and ∑ Kp index for each case separately and data have been taken from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/dx1.html. We can see from table 1 that all the earthquakes have shallow depths except one of them (46 km), but we cannot ignore this earthquake because of its relatively large magnitude (M = 7.8). Further, it may be seen from the table 1 that two of the earthquakes occurred in the month of April, one in July, and rest two in September, 2013.
the the change in sea level is due to a change in the level of land